One recognized problem with agricultural baling using round and/or square balers is that bales are typically discharged from the baler onto the field in a random fashion. This requires an operator to subsequently drive all over the field to collect the bales and relocate them to the final storage location. This approach is time consuming; it can cause additional soil compaction, potential crop damage, and excessive wear on the transport equipment.
Bale accumulators have been used to gather bales together in batches. When the accumulator is full, it is common to dump the harvested crop in the location where it is full.